Everything I've learned came from a story.
I learned to tell the truth from Jiminy Cricket. I learned to hope from Cinderella. I learned that days can just be terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad... and that's okay. Meg, Jo, Beth and Aimee taught me to value the small things in life. Long walks over the English moors gave me an appreciation of fresh air. Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah - evidences of the universality of sibling rivalry. If Penelope could be patient for Odysseus, then it was a trait worth seeking after. And with Oliver Twist, I learned that the world is not always thinking about children.
The story tells Truth - in digestible pieces.
The story creates Connection – to each other, to our world, to ourselves.
I was never alone with Anne Shirley, Peter Pan, and Danny Torrance. I understood friendship, fear of growing up, and what it was to feel different. When these moments arose in my own life, I knew I had been well prepared.
I experienced WWII Germany. I visited Colonial America. I fought with Ghengis Khan. I walked through the ghettos of South Africa. I was a convict in Australia. I spent time in rural Georgia in the 1930s. I've seen the Klan and I've met gangsters. I listened to kings and seen their quiet human moments. There were shipwrecks...
Feminism, economics, plagues, revolution, guns, drugs, sex, rock'n'roll, menstruation, castration, death, love, faith, hope, charity, suicide, homesteading, goddesses, Santa Claus, mining, science, creation, cancer, courts, driving, running, hiding....
The story is enough.
I was never alone with Anne Shirley, Peter Pan, and Danny Torrance. I understood friendship, fear of growing up, and what it was to feel different. When these moments arose in my own life, I knew I had been well prepared.
I experienced WWII Germany. I visited Colonial America. I fought with Ghengis Khan. I walked through the ghettos of South Africa. I was a convict in Australia. I spent time in rural Georgia in the 1930s. I've seen the Klan and I've met gangsters. I listened to kings and seen their quiet human moments. There were shipwrecks...
Feminism, economics, plagues, revolution, guns, drugs, sex, rock'n'roll, menstruation, castration, death, love, faith, hope, charity, suicide, homesteading, goddesses, Santa Claus, mining, science, creation, cancer, courts, driving, running, hiding....
The story is enough.
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